TDAA Ch 41

“I’m not teasing you, I’m genuinely curious. What on earth happened?”

As Muriel asked seriously, Ryufen slightly raised his head, and upon seeing Muriel’s smile, he roughly washed his dry face with his hands. With his facial hair standing on end, Ryufen let out a deep sigh and began his story.

“…A while back, a guy I knew was spreading false rumors about the Commander. No, actually, he hated me and was trying to badmouth me, but ended up saying something like the blue dragon that beat you must actually be a weakling. But then….”

“Then?”

“The Demon King appeared.”

“…What did you say?”

Ryufen’s expression was blank, as if recalling the past.

It was understandable. The Demon King, wasn’t that a word that meant the worst disaster in this world and, at the same time, a fear from which one could never escape? Of course, it was perceived differently from a natural phenomenon because it appeared with a clear regularity….

Mulling over it, Muriel recalled that the reason the Demon King appeared was usually to track down falsehoods about dragons.

Seeing his almost horrified expression, Ryufen sighed deeply and nodded.

“Yeah, apparently badmouthing like that is also treated as a lie about dragons. I almost got done for too. The Demon King treated me like an idiot, saying what was I doing, that as a guardian, I should have snapped his neck for hearing such nonsense.”

“What do you mean, no, you met the Demon King and haven’t said a word to me until now?!”

“To me, it’s a past I want to forget?! I got kicked hard and was told not to mess around like that again, and the pain was one thing, but when I got up, I wasn’t in the land of the beastmen. You know what? Innate magic users, if they lose all their magic, they shrink and become like a puppy. I woke up in some forest over there looking like that!”

Listening to his indignant tone, Muriel ground his teeth. This was why he couldn’t bring himself to like Ryufen. To think something so serious had happened, and he hadn’t said a word about it all this time! That senseless wolf clearly didn’t even know the meaning of family.

After calming his surging anger with a deep breath, Muriel glared at Ryufen, who wore a look of confusion as to why he was angry, and gestured with his chin for him to continue.

“I was wandering around and almost got killed by a monster, but Aspard picked me up.”

“You mean the former king.”

“Yeah. The kids who looked similar called me a puppy, so I just pretended to be a puppy. I was so tiny and embarrassed, I couldn’t go back anyway.”

“So cute and lovely.”

“…I was a bit cute when I was little.”

Ryufen, speaking shamelessly, sighed deeply and continued, scratching the floor with his claws.

“As the amount of magic my body could handle slowly recovered, my body grew too. I kept getting bigger, bigger than the biggest dog here, and by then, I didn’t know how much longer I could fool them. Just when I thought it was time to run away, there was a food shortage. And as it happened, I was good at hunting, good at running, and good at fighting…. Anyway, I’m ridiculously competent, you know. I did a few things to repay the favor.”

Muriel looked at Ryufen with a fed-up expression as he shamelessly boasted. He felt pathetic for the wolf who didn’t even know the meaning of the word humility, but he sighed at the fact that there was not a single false word in his statement.

Unfortunately, Ryufen was a wolf who was quite self-aware.

“The atmosphere here is all about competent dogs working hard, so I helped out by hunting and bringing back food… and at some point, I had become a total superstar.”

“…Ah…. Yes….”

“So when Aspard came to visit from the royal castle, I would stick to him and roll around. Even though he was the king, they were polite in front of Aspard. I couldn’t care less about that stuff. His daughter kept climbing on my back, which was annoying, but it was still better than dealing with the pack of dogs.”

“You mean Princess Ladie.”

“Yeah, she was about this big back then, but she’s grown quite a lot.”

Ryufen gestured with his hand to a height about the same as the round table Muriel was using.

He had seen her once before, but she was wearing armor then, so he didn’t quite match her with the child he knew. Seeing her standing surrounded by the dogs this time reminded him of her younger self, making him feel a little sentimental. It made him think of Aspard, too.

“Living like that, my body grew so much that I couldn’t pretend to be a dog anymore, and I figured since I’d grown that much, it wouldn’t be embarrassing anymore. So I talked to Aspard and came back to the Commander. Well, he already knew I wasn’t a dog. I promised I’d visit him, but somehow he died before I could see him again.”

“…Do you feel guilty about leaving?”

“Hmm…. I don’t know. But it’s possible Aspard wouldn’t have died if I had been there a little longer.”

“That’s not likely.”

Muriel denied it firmly.

“The place where King Aspard died was not far from the royal castle. It’s far from the Meric territory. No matter how strong, fast, or intuitive you are, you could not have foreseen the king’s death from here.”

“…Is… is that so.”

So it was guilt. Ryufen realized it as he felt something heavy that had been weighing on his chest disappear.

The words that Aspard would have died even if he had remained in this land were cold and dispassionate, but they were a great comfort to Ryufen. Muriel was not one to lie just to comfort someone, and Ryufen was not a wolf to whine about things he couldn’t have accomplished.

“Thank you, Muriel.”

“For what.”

“You looked into it on purpose, didn’t you? Because I was acting suspiciously.”

“Th-that’s not it. I investigated it to answer the Blue Dragon in case he asked about the former king’s death.”

Muriel turned bright red as he made the excuse.

Just then, Ryufen shot up from his seat, put his front paws on the railing, and began to stare intently in one direction.

“What, it’s Sizool.”

Ryufen, focusing on that direction for a moment, recognized the person whose face was still unfamiliar and said. His tone was one of utter disbelief. It was understandable. Because for the past few days, ever since Eorzen had fled with the rampaging Sizool, he had been waiting for Sizool to visit. Even though he had met Sizool after a very long time, he had no choice but to only get a glimpse of his face and let Eorzen take him. Ryufen had been eagerly anticipating that Sizool, upon hearing the news that he was here in the Meric territory, would come running excitedly. In fact, that was the reason he kept wandering outside despite the dogs being a nuisance. So that it would be easier for Sizool to find him.

“Why didn’t he come find me when he woke up? He should have come to me first thing when he woke up.”

The reason he had waited silently for several days was because he thought Sizool hadn’t woken up. He couldn’t understand being bedridden for days from a mere potion, but since Sizool was such a weak kid, he forced himself to understand that it might be possible.

But to be up and walking around perfectly fine and not come?

No, maybe he was on his way now. Ryufen suppressed the irritation welling up inside him.

“Wait, why are those guys all over Sizool like that? Hey, Muriel, why are the dogs clinging to Sizool like that? And why is Sizool accepting it all? That brat Sizool, he must know I’m here, is he playing around with the dogs now?”

“Master Siol worked hard here. He was treated poorly at first but proved his abilities. What’s the problem with that? Would you rather he was hated?”

“Of course not! But they look friendlier with Sizool than with me! Does that even make sense?”

Ryufen protested, hitting the railing with his front paw. Seeing him throwing a tantrum, Muriel rubbed his forehead and sighed wearily.

“What about it doesn’t make sense.”

“No!”

Ryufen shouted and leaped down. Landing lightly on the ground from the third-floor balcony, Ryufen growled and stomped his way towards Sizool. He thought that surely, upon seeing his face, Sizool would be happy and come towards him.

However, Sizool turned around upon hearing Ryufen’s footsteps, looked startled, and ran away.

“…He’s running away?!”

Ryufen, who had been staring blankly at his retreating back, shouted fiercely.

⋆୨🔮୧⋆

Why, why is he angry?

Siol tried to understand the reason as he ran away with all his might. Muriel, whom he had met at the banquet hall, had not shown any aversion to him. He had approached immediately when his name was called and had listened to him with a polite attitude. So he thought that the rumors about the death alchemist had surely been proven false.

He could only think of it that way.

Otherwise, he believed there was no way Muriel would have pretended not to know he was here from the beginning and willingly approached him as soon as he was found.

But if that thought was correct, it meant Ryufen was approaching him so angrily while knowing everything….

Siol gritted his teeth as he bounded down the stairs, taking three or four at a time. The next moment, he felt his body stagger and plummet to the floor. Siol squeezed his eyes shut.

“Master Siol!”

Luber, who had been following behind, leaped from the landing down the stairs and caught Siol. Siol pressed a hand over his pounding heart and looked up.

There was Luber, just as pale as he was, catching his breath.

Luber let out a sigh of relief and cried out.

“Phew! What do you think you’re doing! Why are you running down the stairs?”

“Sorry….”

“You should be sorry to yourself, not to me. You almost tumbled down the stone stairs. You could have died.”

“Mm-hmm….”

Luber shot him a glare and, still holding Siol, carried him to the laboratory and placed him on the bed.

“If you had broken an arm or a leg, you would have been bedridden for months. This is the basement side, so the stairs are already steep, why would you run down them like that? You’re not a child! No, even a child would be careful on these stairs.”

“I said I was wrong….”

As Siol mumbled another apology, Luber pulled up a chair next to the bed and, looking exhausted, leaned his upper body against the bed and stretched. He had transformed from a diligent and competent escort knight to a neglectful attendant in an instant.

“Then tell me why you did it.”

“Huh? Well, that’s….”

“Do you dislike Titi?”

“No, it’s not that I dislike him, if anything, I like him….”

“Then why did you run away?”

“Because he was chasing me with a ferocious expression, so I thought maybe he hated me.”

Having almost died, he forgot his fear, and then, being interrogated, his true feelings popped out.

Siol was a little surprised that he had confessed his inner thoughts so readily to Luber. He knew well that he was timid, needlessly fearful, and afraid of his inner thoughts being discovered. But why now?

Just then, Luber yawned widely without covering his mouth and turned his head to look up at Siol. Siol, without realizing it, gently stroked Luber’s golden hair and thought.

Perhaps it was because Luber didn’t feel human.

He felt like a large, golden-brown puppy, not someone he had to hide his true feelings from, so the words just came out when he was asked.

“Should I go ask Titi for you?”

Hmm, the fact that he offered such a unhelpful suggestion was also no different from a big puppy. After all, Luber was the type to think everyone would be happy if he just showed them his belly.

Siol, nonchalantly having thoughts that would shock and hurt Luber if he heard them, shook his head. If he went and asked and the answer came back that he really was hated, he didn’t have the confidence to overcome the shock.

Luber pouted with a dissatisfied expression.

“Master Siol, you need to live a little more simply.”

“You think I live a complicated life?”

“Your head is incredibly complicated. It’s a maze in there.”

Hearing it, it seemed to be true. Siol gently stroked Luber’s head and asked.

“What’s so good about living simply?”

“First of all, doing what you like feels amazing. And I have a lot of things I like. I like my master because she’s my master, and I like Master Siol because he’s Master Siol. The bed is nice because it’s cozy, meat is delicious, cookies are sweet, the spot in front of the fireplace is warm, and it’s fun to play in the snow in winter. And it’s really exciting to sneak into the kitchen and snatch a piece of bread.”

“What about things you dislike?”

“There are things I dislike, too. But bad things don’t last forever, do they? When something good happens, I forget about them quickly.”

“What about complicated things?”

“You just tackle them head-on. There might be bad things, but they’ll pass soon. But the good things remain.”

“What if… what if Ladie starts to hate you? What would you do then?”

“I would try my best to make her like me again. I’d beg for her forgiveness, follow her every day, and offer her delicious things…. Seeing my master dislike me would be painful, but it’s much better than letting her hate me forever.”

Siol looked at Luber, a little surprised. He never knew that the mind of this large puppy, who was enjoying the petting with his eyes closed, was filled with such wonderful thoughts. He had only thought of him as simple and childlike.

But this was not a method that suited him. He had lived this way for over 30 years, so he couldn’t change in an instant. But maybe he could become a little, just a tiny bit, simpler?

Siol decided to be just a little bit braver.

“Okay. I’ll try a little harder.”

“Then shall we go to Titi?”

“No. That requires a lot of effort, so I can’t.”

“What’s that supposed to mean.”

Luber grumbled and pouted.

“Then what is the ‘little harder’ you’re trying?”

“Hmm…. Shall we go see the suns first?”

“What. You just mean you’re going to focus on your alchemy research.”

“Is that too little?”

As Siol asked, deflated, Luber grinned.

“No, that’s just like you, Master Siol. Let’s go!”

At a glance, it might seem like he was just avoiding the matter at hand, but Luber, who had watched Siol from his side, knew that this much was a courageous answer for Siol in its own way. The person who, just three days ago, had complained about not wanting to go to work because he didn’t want to meet anyone from the land of the beastmen, was now saying he would go out even after encountering the wolf. In his own way, he was making an effort.

“But what are you going to do about Titi then?”

“For now… let’s just hide and move around secretly. So we don’t get caught.”

Siol averted his gaze from Luber’s pathetic look and got off the bed.

⋆୨🔮୧⋆

He did not think himself innocent. He wasn’t the death alchemist, but that didn’t mean he was without sin. Because, in the end, he was the one who created that terrible weapon of war. Even if he made it without knowing how it would be used, the creator could not completely escape the karma.

Therefore, Siol was prepared to willingly accept the hatred directed towards him.

But he wished it wouldn’t be Ryufen.

Siol, while thinking it was selfish, couldn’t help but wish for it. It was fine if many other beastmen hated him, but please, not Eorzen and Ryufen.

“Umm…. Titi is much stronger and tougher than me, so I don’t know if I can avoid him well. But… let’s go for now.”

And so, Siol and Luber carefully slipped out of the mansion. When they left, they didn’t use the main gate but climbed over a wall in a secluded spot. They were almost caught by a guard dog, which nearly made a loud noise, but Luber quickly held up Siol to show him, silencing the dog and allowing them to slip away quietly.

Siol couldn’t bring himself to meet the guard dog’s eyes, but since it was the second time this had happened, it was less shameful than before. It was still embarrassing, but it was better to be a little ashamed than to cause a big commotion.

The purpose of his last visit had been to confirm with his own eyes whether the building with two suns was really just the mansion, and whether the buildings with suns had truly repaired themselves. This time, he planned to revisit the buildings with suns and draw their likenesses. The suns on each building were different, and he thought there might be a special reason for it.

However, that plan ran into difficulties from the very beginning.

A large wolf was sitting in front of the public security office, which he had chosen as his first destination. Staring at the wolf’s back, sitting upright and facing the office from a distance, Siol froze solid.

He considered confronting him now that it had come to this, but then he grew afraid, wondering what he would do if the wolf glared and chased him like before.

As Luber said, Ryufen’s anger wouldn’t last forever. But Siol didn’t have the confidence to endure even for a single second the wolf who had once cared for him from head to toe looking at him with eyes of contempt.

At least not until he could compose his heart a little more.

“Still! Still, it’s a relief. If we had arrived first, we would have been caught for sure.”

“R-right. You’re right. What a relief.”

“There are other suns besides this one, so let’s go somewhere else. Shall we go to the stables? Master Siol, you like horses, right?”

“Yes. Let’s go, let’s go see the horses.”

Siol forced himself to nod at Luber’s comfort and turned his body.

He had brought some candy this time too, so he would go to the stables, offer the candy to the black horse from last time, and caress its cheek. The horse’s wet tongue licking the candy was a bit slippery and had a strange texture, but looking into its ardent eyes that wanted the candy, he somehow felt that the large horse was cute and lovely.

A little excited at the thought of petting the horse, Siol walked cheerfully, having already forgotten about Ryufen. The stables were just around the corner.

Unfortunately, however, there was a problem this time as well.

The large wolf that had been in front of the public security office just a moment ago was now sitting in front of the stables. The horses were terrified of the giant wolf and were flailing about wildly, bringing the stable master to the verge of tears. Though he must have known he was the cause, Ryufen completely ignored the pleading looks and just flicked his ears in annoyance.

“Uh…. Food! Instead, why don’t we eat first?”

“…Okay.”

Siol nodded his head dejectedly.

Luber led Siol and walked in the opposite direction, glancing back. He saw the large wolf get up irritably. Luber, thinking ‘no way,’ paid attention to that direction for a moment. The wolf stomped off in the opposite direction and disappeared.

Afterward, the two wandered the market street talking about what to eat and eventually just went to the central hall. The distribution center was operating as before, but it seemed the menu had become more luxurious as the territory’s situation improved. Potatoes and sweet potatoes were still on the serving counter as basic menu items, and bread and soup had been added. There was a per-person ration, but they also gave out butter, and you could get milk if you wanted. It was a shame there was no jam, but since sugar was originally expensive, it was probably to be expected.

Siol got food with Luber and sat down at one side of a communal table, tearing half his bread into small pieces and sprinkling them over his soup.

“The bread will get too soggy if you eat it like that.”

“It’s delicious when it’s soaked in soup.”

Luber had a slightly uncomprehending look on his face but didn’t interfere further.

As Siol picked up his spoon, the entrance area started to become noisy. Worried that someone might be causing a scene, Siol turned his gaze and froze, dropping his spoon.

It was Ryufen. Ryufen was coming in.

At this point, there was no way he couldn’t know.

From the very beginning, Ryufen had been following Siol to his destinations. He didn’t know how it was possible, but….

Siol remained frozen solid until Ryufen received a mountain of food on his plate and sat down at the opposite table. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to run away, but Ryufen’s gaze was fixed firmly on Siol and didn’t leave him for a single moment, so he couldn’t.

Yes, that ferocious gaze.

Looking at the wolf’s eyes, which were stormy as if daring him to say something, Siol began to feel sad beyond his fear. No matter how much you hate me, to do this…! If you were going to be like this, you shouldn’t have been so good to me in the first place. An unreasonable anger heated Siol’s brain.

Seeing Siol’s clenched fists trembling, Luber stepped forward.

“Titi, there are plenty of empty seats, do you really have to sit here?”

“That’s none of your business, kid. And don’t call me Titi.”

“It was a table where Master Siol and I were sitting, so why is it none of my business?”

“I came here because I have something to say. If you have any sense, just shut up and get out of the way.”

“No way, Master Siol is scared! Go away!”

Luber shouted, pushing against the wolf that was several times his size. Where did he get the courage to confront a giant wolf that looked like it could crunch a head or two? It was a scene reminiscent of the proverb from his hometown, “A day-old puppy doesn’t fear a tiger.”

His gesture didn’t budge Ryufen in the slightest, but it succeeded in annoying him.

“This little thing…!”

Ryufen swatted the annoying kid away with his front paw. Luber, struck by the large wolf, flew through the air and crashed into a chair at another table, tumbling to the ground.

Siol shot up and shouted.

“Ryufen!”

“What!”

“What are you doing to Luber!”

“I just pushed him, so what!”

“What do you mean, so what! You can’t do this!”

“What do you mean, I can’t!”

“What if he got hurt!”

“If he gets hurt by this, he’s not even a beastman!”

“Are you saying I’m not a beastman then?”

“Why is your story coming up here?! You are you!”

“You said if someone gets hurt by this much, they’re not a beastman!”

Having shouted that far, Siol suddenly felt ashamed for getting caught up in this childish argument. Everyone in the central hall, including the distributors, was staring at him and Ryufen. To have such a childish squabble in front of people…!

For some reason, Ryufen had always had the power to make him childish. No matter how many tens, hundreds of times he told himself not to fall for it, whenever he stood before Ryufen, he would fall for the childish provocations and become just as childish himself.

Siol glared at Ryufen, then shut his mouth tightly and ran to Luber. Luber, who had been sitting on the floor dazedly watching the argument, whispered, ‘Weren’t you scared?’ as Siol approached. Siol’s cheeks reddened as he pulled Luber’s arm, telling him to get up.

“Let’s go, Luber.”

“Go where!”

“If you hate me, you can just take it out on me! Luber is a good kid, why are you doing this to Luber? It’s okay to say things to me, to me, but don’t take your anger out on an innocent kid!”

As Siol yelled, Ryufen’s jaw dropped, his expression asking if he had heard correctly.

“Sizool!”

Ryufen, having called his name, fell silent for a moment, as if he didn’t know what to say or where to begin. Siol, afraid of what words might come out of that mouth, simply turned his body away. He grabbed Luber’s hand and was about to stomp out, not even hiding his angry footsteps, when Ryufen spoke in a voice drained of all strength.

“You…. How could you do this to me?!”

As Ryufen’s voice, which had been shouting harshly all along, wavered like that of a mangy puppy, Siol couldn’t help but stop in his tracks.

As if waiting for it, Ryufen quickly ran over, blocked the door, and shouted threateningly.

“Huh? How could you do this to me! After everything I’ve done for you!”

“No…. What did I do! Did I do something so wrong? No, I mean, I did do something wrong, but… still, Ryufen, how could you do this to me? I, I was….”

“Yeah, you were wrong! How could you see me and run away?!”

“…Pardon?”

At the accusation, which was completely different from what he had expected, Siol couldn’t help but ask back in a dumbfounded tone.

However, Ryufen began to shout, pounding the floor with a fierce expression.

“Wow, isn’t this too much? I waited patiently the whole time until you woke up after you collapsed, but how could you run away the moment we made eye contact? Huh? I waited patiently, patiently. Does it even make sense for me to be patient? But I waited quietly because of you! But instead of running to me saying you missed me as soon as you woke up, you tried to sneak off somewhere else like a little mouse, got caught, and then ran away?!”

“What? Uh, yes, yeees?”

“How I raised you! I stripped you naked, washed you, put you to sleep, fed you meat, licked your wounds, and since you wouldn’t eat, I even learned to cook, which is not in my destiny, huh? I cleaned your room, made you exercise, flew you down to the village at the foot of the mountain, and carried you back to the castle in my mouth!”

“No, that, that’s, uh…. No, that’s not it….”

Flustered, Siol could only stutter, unable to speak properly.

“What do you mean, that’s not it! I even waited for you where you were going to give you a chance to talk to me, and you ran away again! And twice at that!”

His head wasn’t working properly.

So, when he was sitting with his back to him at the public security office and the stables, he was doing that because he wanted him to start a conversation?

And the reason he chased him with an angry face at first was simply because he didn’t come to see him after waking up?

He wasn’t angry because I was the death alchemist.

Tears streamed down Siol’s cheeks. As the fear he had been suppressing disappeared, its place was completely filled with a sense of being wronged and upset.

“I…. I thought you hated me, Ryufen….”

“Why would I hate you?”

“Be, because I’m the death… alchemist….”

“What kind of stupid thing are you saying, you idiot. I heard you weren’t that person.”

“B-but it’s true that I made those things….”

As Siol argued, rubbing his eyes with the back of his hand, Ryufen clicked his tongue, pulled his arm down, and licked his face thoroughly. It was wet and warm and felt unpleasant, but Siol held back his complaints and looked up at Ryufen.

“Sheesh. Stop being stupid. Then is the glory of the battles I won yours too?”

“What? Why would it be like that?”

“Because I wouldn’t have been able to fight so well without one of my hind legs.”

“Uh….”

“I’m grateful you made my hind leg, but the glory of my battles is mine, and the pain of my defeats is also my responsibility. Don’t even think about taking anything away.”

“I, I’ve never thought of such a thing!”

“Then why are you trying to take all the blame for the bad consequences of the things you made?”

“That’s… different.”

Ryufen clicked his tongue and gently patted the top of Siol’s head with his front paw.

“How is it different. You dummy.”

It really is different. That and this are completely different issues.

He wanted to protest, but at the same time, a selfish desire to accept those words as they were reared its head.

The creator of an object had to take responsibility for what they made. That was what he had learned from his master. Things made with alchemy can have a great impact on the world, so one must always consider their influence.

Because Siol had provided the weapon to the king without abiding by that advice, many people had died. That was why he felt that all the repercussions caused by alchemy were the result of the sin he had committed.

“Once you made it and gave it away, that’s the end of it. In the first place, you were stuck somewhere and didn’t even know beastmen existed in this world, right? You thought it was just full of monsters? You’re a fake genius, what responsibility are you talking about? Such a little thing with so many useless thoughts….”

Ryufen, shaking his head as if he found it pathetic, suddenly crumpled his face and became emotional.

“No, wait. You avoided me because you thought I hated you? For such a pathetic reason?!”

“It’s not a pathetic reason….”

“If that’s not a pathetic reason, then what is! Wow, do you have any idea how hard it was for me to take care of you, not even watching the knights’ training and sticking by your side to take care of everything from one to ten? I’ve never even done this for my own nephew, but to raise you, I even paid attention to the menu for your meals! I looked at cookbooks and learned to do that marinade thing or whatever! I picked herbs! Huh? Even when you caused trouble, I took all the scolding from the Commander by myself, huh?”

He seemed to have been quite wronged and angry. Now that he knew the reason Siol had avoided him, Ryufen found it even more incomprehensible and was on the verge of spreading rumors about every single episode of hardship he went through raising Siol.

Siol, on the verge of tears, looked for someone to ask for help and his eyes met Luber’s. Luber smiled sweetly and said.

“Master Siol was in the wrong this time.”

Hearing that subtle criticism, Siol sighed deeply. In this situation, there was only one path he could take.

“Ryufen, I was wrong. I was wrong, so please….”

“And how pathetic were you, there were daggers rolling around the castle, but you couldn’t bring yourself to ask for one, so you spent all day picking up scraps of junk….”

“Ah, Ryufen, please. Please stop. No, I’ll listen to everything, so please, let’s go somewhere quiet and talk, just the two of us.”

Ryufen didn’t even pretend to listen and continued to babble on about how well he had treated Siol and how pathetically Siol had acted, spreading rumors. The people, who at first were just staring with wide eyes wondering what was going on, began to understand Ryufen’s hurt feelings as the story progressed.

And it was understandable. Ryufen was Titi, once the superstar of the Meric territory, and a star’s complaints penetrate people’s hearts more deeply than those of an ordinary person.

In the end, unable to bear the shame, Siol tried to run away but was caught by Ryufen and had to listen to his story until he was exhausted, enduring the ‘how could he do that?’ stares from the people.

He was happy that he wasn’t hated, but more than that, his cheeks burned so much that he couldn’t lift his head, and he felt like he could die.

Only after his tirade was over did Ryufen move as Siol pulled him. By that point, Siol had already become a heinous sinner who had misunderstood and avoided the person who had cared for him.

Of course, he had done wrong, but he didn’t think he had done something so wrong as to deserve this…

Siol felt wronged deep down, but since Ryufen was watching him with narrowed eyes, he could only apologize and beg and plead to go somewhere else. After finally managing to drag Ryufen to the laboratory, Siol sank onto the sofa in front of the fireplace and let out a deep sigh.

“Phew….”

“Phew? Did you just say phew?”

“Ah, just stop it, really! How long are you going to be like this?”

When Siol snapped, Ryufen stared at him for a moment with his eyes still narrowed, then snorted with a “hmph.” He then pushed Siol towards the back of the sofa and climbed up to sit. Siol, who suddenly found himself with a large, heavy wolf on his lap, let out a groan, but Ryufen seemed not to care in the slightest. Still, it was more bearable than when he was Sizool, so he decided to endure whatever happened today.

Siol, the sinner, sighed and comforted himself. It was better not to rebel against Ryufen when he was in this foul a mood.

“Know that I’m letting you off just this once. If you ever pull something like this again, there will be no forgiveness.”

“What happens if you don’t forgive me?”

“If you want to know, try pulling this kind of stunt again.”

Ryufen growled back in response.

That wretched curiosity immediately vanished. It had already taken hours just to appease Ryufen’s mood to this extent; he refused to suffer any more strange ordeals by prying further. Ryufen might even use him as a rug.

Siol pouted and accepted the teacup Luber brought him. Luber had also brought tea to Ryufen, been refused, and was now sitting a little way off, watching ‘Titi’ with sparkling eyes. It seemed Luber quite liked Ryufen’s bullheaded way of solving problems.

Come to think of it, this bullheaded Ryufen and the willful Luber seemed to have some similarities. But he hoped Luber wouldn’t learn from Ryufen.

Siol shook his head to clear away the useless thoughts that kept popping up and asked cautiously.

“So, you really… don’t hate me? You don’t find me repulsive either?”

“Sheesh. Stop it already. How many times do you need to hear ‘no’ to be satisfied?”

“……”

“Ah, I don’t hate you! Happy now?”

“…Yes.”

Siol smiled a little shyly. For some reason, the weight on his lap felt lighter than before. Now it was time to ask the important question that had been pricking at his heart all along.

“Then what about Master Eorzen?”

“Ah…. The Commander.”

To the question he had asked, inwardly expecting the answer that Eorzen, of course, didn’t hate him either, Ryufen averted his gaze, looking somewhat troubled. It was strange. Ryufen was not a wolf who avoided others’ gazes. Could it be that Ryufen and Eorzen’s opinions were the complete opposite?

As Siol turned pale with a look of utter devastation, Ryufen quickly waved his front paw.

“No, no. It’s not like that. It’s just that it’s difficult to know what to say.”

“What reason is there for it to be difficult to know what to say?”

“It’s not a matter of hating you or anything, this is….”

As he said that, Ryufen glanced at Luber. He had a look on his face as if he were contemplating kicking Luber out, but it didn’t last long. True to his nature as a beastman wolf who didn’t think too deeply, he seemed to have decided to just be open about it.

Ryufen spoke with a rare, sorrowful expression.

“Well, the thing is, the Commander has amnesia.”

“…Pardon?”